The Double, Double Cross Job
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Someone from Hardison's past comes to the team looking for their help, but Eliot gets the sense that there's something wrong with their new client and the job. He and the others race to figure out what it is, before their hacker and friend gets hurt.
1. Chapter 1

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter One

Two weeks ago…

Three men and a woman walked into one of the hottest clubs in downtown Chicago, already drunk and in a partying mood. They put two tables together in the loft area and took their seat as a waiter walked over to take their orders. The kid looked nervous because one of the men in this group, Ray Lang, was the club's new owner as of an hour ago.

No one who worked here knew what had caused their previous boss, Tom Wells, to resign and sell it because as far as they knew, the man loved it here and they loved him. Tom was the one who designed the club along with one other man, who died several months ago. Tom actually closed the club for one night to the public, in order to give a service to his partner and life-long friend. The staff believed that they would one day do the same for him. Everyone who worked for him always teased him about how he should just sell his house because he was here more than he was there.

However, within the last few weeks, Tom had been acting strangely. Everyone noticed it and somehow his behavior seemed to have something to do with the man who was here tonight with his friends, waiting to be served their drinks.

After about ten minutes, the waiter walked back to the tables and gave each of them the beers and margaritas they ordered. Ray put down the menu he was looking at and handed it to the waiter, ordering several of the appetizers and telling the waiter that any of his friends here with him tonight were now allowed to have anything for free, whenever they want.

As the waiter turned and began to walk away, one of Ray's friends put his leg out and tripped the kid, who landed hard into a table close by, causing it to break. As he tried to get up, he looked at the guy who tripped him and saw that he and most of the others at the table were laughing.

However, there was one man who wasn't and he actually looked at the kid with sympathy. The waiter finally managed to get up and limp away. He walked into the restroom to clean off the blood that was coming from a long cut that had opened up on his right arm. He also twisted his ankle. The kid bent down to wash his hands and face in the faucet and when he lifted his head back up, he saw the man that had actually showed remorse for what his friend did, standing behind him.

"What do you want?" the kid asked. "Haven't you already done enough?"

"I wanted to come in here to apologize to you for my friends," he responded. "I'm sorry."

The waiter replied, "Why aren't you out there with them?"

The stranger answered, "We're celebrating Ray becoming this place's new owner. As you can see, this isn't the first place we've had drinks and I'm the only one not drunk right now. However, their drunkenness is no excuse for what they did to you out there. Again, I'm sorry."

He walked out of the bathroom as the waiter just stood there wondering why this guy cared about what his friends did. He quickly shoved his thoughts aside and finished what he was doing. Then, he walked out to talk to one of the other waiters in order to see if they could cover the rest of his shift.

Back out at the bar, the stranger stood talking to the bartender, who handed him a piece of paper with information he had requested days earlier. He then, pulled out his wallet and handed the guy a couple of hundred dollar bills and thanked him. The bartender tucked the money into the inside pocket of his jacket and started to walk off to attend to his other customers.

However, he turned around to face the stranger and said, "That Nate Ford and his crew are strange people, but they are clever. I'd watch out."

The guy responded as he walked away, "Thanks for the heads up."

Present day…

Inside the bar below the apartment in which he lived, Nate and Sophie sat listening to their next potential client. He explained that he was from Chicago and that he had come to Boston because he needed help from people, who could work quietly and without anyone discovering he was about to betray his friends.

"What exactly seems to be the problem, Dan?" Nate asked.

"I have a few friends back from when we were kids," Dan explained. "We each grew up in dangerous neighborhoods and learned to take care of ourselves from a young age. We had a lot in common and we became very close. We all got caught up in different gangs at one point, but we realized it wasn't the kind of life we wanted. So, we all eventually got out and worked hard to make an honest living. However, just over a year ago, one of the guys, Ray Lang, showed up one night with a lot of money. When I asked Ray where he had gotten it from, he told us that he earned it from this new job of his. He worked as a bookie for a man known to be a dangerous loan shark. I tried to get him to quit, but in time he had convinced the others to work along with him. Money and power ended up getting to all their heads. After seven months or so, Ray ended up with the business and began to become owner of several clubs, most recently, the Haddaway Roxbury. I looked…"

Sophie interrupted Dan when she said, "It doesn't sound like he got any of these clubs legally. Let me guess, your friends threatened the owners and managers of each of the big clubs in the area with violence and said that they needed to pay you all a certain amount of money each month in order to keep their place from being trashed."

Dan looked at her in surprise and answered, "It isn't just the clubs in the area, but other than that, you're right. How did you know?"

"This is what we do," Nate replied. "I'm sorry, but we can't help you. We do not work for people who hurt others like you have."

"No, you don't understand," Dan quickly responded. "I have never hurt anyone. I have stuck with my friends because they are my friends and I care about them, but I only take care of the bookkeeping and the technical stuff. I don't hurt anyone and I am constantly trying to get them to quit, but the money and power seems to be all they care about anymore. They won't listen to me. So, I am here because if I go to the police, chances are my friends will end up getting themselves killed. You can put them in prison. I heard that you and your team were good. I just want them to stop hurting people. Please, can you help me?"

Just as Dan finished explaining all of this to them, Eliot, Hardison, and Parker came walking into the bar and headed toward Nate's apartment, until they looked over toward Nate and Sophie and saw that they were with a new client. It was then that Hardison began to walk over to them with a shocked expression on his face.

As he got to the table Sophie asked, "Hardison, are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Hardison looked directly at their newest client and asked, "Dan, is that you?"

"Yeah, Man!" Dan replied as he pulled the hacker into a hug. "It's me. I can't believe you're here. I never thought I'd see you again."

"You know this guy?" Eliot asked.

"Yeah, I do," Hardison responded. "He's my brother."


	2. Chapter 2

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Two

As soon as Hardison announced that their newest client was his brother, Parker, Nate, Sophie, and Eliot looked back and forth between him and their friend. There was no resemblance between them whatsoever, the first and most obvious difference between them being their skin color.

"How can he be your brother?" Parker asked. "You're black and he's white. You don't look anything alike."

"That's because we aren't blood brothers," Hardison replied. "He lived with me and my Nana for a year. We were really close until one day he was adopted and I never saw him again. I tried to find you, Man, but adoption records were sealed and back then, well, let's just say I didn't know what I know now. They treat adoption records like they are Fort Knox. Anyway, time just flew by and I got caught up in a bunch of things."

Nate looked at Hardison and then at Dan and said, "All right. We will do everything we can to stop your friends from harming anyone else and without getting them killed. Go back to them and continue to do whatever you've been doing. Act like nothing is different. We need you to tell us everything, or the deal is off. All of the money they stole from the businesses will go back to where it was stolen from. Is there any chance that you have any books or paperwork as to how much was taken and from where?"

Dan answered, "Yeah, we have a log book that we kept track of how much we are getting paid, but the safe is heavily protected and my friends won't go down easily."

"That's not going to be a problem, Baby," Hardison responded. "You're looking at the best hacker and group of thieves in the world."

"Hardison's right," Sophie replied. "We are the best at what we do. You can trust us."

Dan asked, "What exactly is your plan? My friends aren't exactly looking at another place to take over right now and I am not sure when they will be."

Nate answered, "Then, we're going to have to introduce them to a place they won't be able to resist; the hottest new club in town."

"But there isn't a new club in town," Parker said. "What do you want us to do, steal one?"

"Exactly," Nate replied. "Let's go steal us a club."

One week later…

Flocks of people had gathered inside and out of a new club in town, called The Den of the Five Thieves. Within the first few hours, business was already booming. Tonight was opening night in downtown Chicago and people had already begun to spread the word to all of their friends and families.

Standing in the doorway was Hardison, now the club's manager, who was there to make sure that no one entered the club whose names were not on the list. Eliot, now the club's bouncer, was there to make sure that the guests remained in control. Inside the club were the club's owner, Nate, and his business partner, Sophie. Together, they stood on a balcony that overlooked the main room, watching and observing the guests as they drank, mingled, and partied. Parker walked around in her waitress uniform, while checking out the guests as she swiped their wallets, scanned their licenses and ids, and easily put the wallets right back. Nate wanted to know the kind of people who came and went.

Hardison watched as Eliot flirted with a group of women he had just allowed past the ropes that blocked them from the club and once they went inside he asked, "Man, why is it that all the fine looking women always fall for you? Just because of your long flowing hair and perfect muscles; it's ridiculous. I mean, I am attractive too."

Eliot replied, "I can't help it that I am more attractive to the women. What does it matter to you anyway? Don't you have a thing for Parker?"

"Well, yah I suppose," Hardison answered. "She's great and I like her a lot, but she's so wishy washy all the time. It's impossible to tell what she wants."

"A blind man can see the way you two feel about each other," Eliot responded. "Where on earth did you come up with the name of this place?"

Hardison looked at his friend and said, "I think it's catchy. My Nana used to read me the stories about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. I loved it when she did. I figured that it was quite fitting, since we are thieves ourselves after all. My Nana must have had ESP or something. Those stories were one of the main reasons why I am who I am today. I wanted to be just like Ali Baba. Don't go mocking the name! What would you have called it anyway?"

Eliot looked at Hardison and smiled as he replied, "Now that you explain why you named this place The Den of Five Thieves, I think I understand. The name's cool, Man! Can I ask you something?"

"You want to know if I trust Dan, don't you?" Hardison asked.

"I mean, you haven't seen him since the two of you were kids," Eliot responded. "People change. We all certainly have."

"Dan is my brother, Man," Hardison said. "We were close then and I trust him with my life. He's a good man who fell in with the wrong crowd. It can happen to anyone."

Before Eliot could apologize, their newest mark, Ray Lang, and his crew walked up to them, along with Dan. Hardison and Dan looked at each other and then Hardison extended his right hand out to Lang, who returned the gesture. Eliot did the same.

Hardison was the first to speak up saying, "Mr. Lang, it is a pleasure to meet you. I have heard about all of your fine clubs and businesses. We are very excited to have a business man such as yourself join us here at the opening of our new scene."

Ray replied, "Thank you. I have heard good things. Let's hope that it is everything that they say it is. Who came up with the Den of the Five Thieves? Who are the five thieves?"

Hardison answered, "You'll find out soon enough."


	3. Chapter 3

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Three

Hardison introduced himself as his latest alias, Drew Carson and then turned to Eliot and introduced him as the club's head bouncer, Todd Raine. Then, he guided Ray Lang and his friends inside and up to what he claimed was the club's best table up on the second floor. The table overlooked the entire club.

As Ray and his gang, including Dan, took a seat, Parker came over to the table carrying a tray of waters and Hardison said, "Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to our finest girl, Miss. Angela Niles. She'll be able to help you with anything you want. Don't hesitate to ask."

Ray looked up and down at Parker as she set the glasses around the table and then looked over at Hardison as he replied, "Actually, I'd like to speak with the owner of this place if he's available tonight. I'd like to discuss some business with him. We haven't been here too long, but from what I've seen so far, this place is fine!"

"Forgive me, Mr. Lang," Hardison responded. "If you're thinking about trying to buy our club from the owner, Brant Cooper, you're going to have a hard time doing so. We just opened tonight and this place means an awful lot to him."

"Yeah, well I've never known anyone that didn't find a certain dollar amount more satisfying," Ray answered smugly.

Hardison shrugged and smiled as he said, "All right, I'll let him know. In the meantime, enjoy Angela's company. Angela, get them whatever they ask, will ya? I'll be back."

Parker nodded and answered, "You got it, Baby."

"Are you and he an item, Sweetheart?" one of Ray's friends asked as he placed his hand on Parker's lower back when she pulled out a notepad to write down their orders.

"Drew's a great guy," she answered as she pulled the guy's hand off of her back. "I'd like to be more, but right now, we're just friends. There's too much going on right now to deal with something as personal as that. Now, what can I get for you, gentlemen?"

Dan spoke up softly as he replied, "I'll take an order of wings, Miss."

Ray responded as he kept his eyes trained on Hardison, who walked over to speak with a guy he assumed was the owner, "That sounds pretty good. We'll all take a few orders of wings. Also, a round of beers for everyone. Thanks, Doll."

"No problem," Parker answered as she walked away.

"Dan, you were right about this place," Ray said. "It is pretty great. If the business keeps up like this, we'll steal it from this Brant Cooper, whoever he is. In the meantime, we'll do as we've been doing. I think we'll charge a little more for our protection services though. It looks to me that he can afford it."

Dan looked over at his friend and smiled as he replied, "Sounds good to me, Ray."

After Hardison walked away from Dan, Ray, and his friends, he walked over to where Nate and Sophie were standing and observing the thugs. They kept their eyes on them ever since Hardison and Eliot had walked them through the door.

Hardison spoke up first saying, "Well, it appears we've done our job right. Lang and his cronies just took the bait. They're asking for you already, Mr. Cooper."

Nate nodded his head and smiled as he replied, "Excellent work, Hardison! And not just on coming up with the con."

"This place is fabulous!" Sophie added. "Wherever did you get all of this stuff, the lights, the artwork, the music system?"

"You didn't buy all this, did you?" Nate asked.

"After all the time we've been together, you guys still doubt my mad skills," Hardison answered sourly. "I am genuinely hurt. No, I didn't buy all of it. I found a lot of the decor in a junk yard. I built the sound system. A little geek magic and bam! We've got ourselves the hottest place in town, Baby!"

Nate patted Hardison on the back as he and Sophie walked away and headed toward the table where Ray, Dan, and his friends sat. Parker just finished delivering their beers as Nate and Sophie arrived at the table and extended their hands out to shake theirs in introduction.

Nate spoke first saying, "Gentlemen, the name's Brant Cooper and this is my lovely business partner, Miss. Peggy Doyle."

Sophie nodded her head as if in a bow and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, gentlemen. Carson's told us about your business deals. Truthfully, we were a bit surprised when we saw you walk through our doors."

Ray responded, "Yes, well we are always looking for new places to invest our hard earned money, but we first need to know everything there is to know about our prospects. So far, I like what I see. Shall we talk?"

"I suppose there's no harm in talking, but I will warn you now, I am not looking to sell my place, especially since it has just opened," Nate replied.

"Perhaps in time we'll come to that discussion, Mr. Cooper," Ray said. "I can see that your business is hot and if it continues to be so down the road we can talk about buying. Tonight, I am here to discuss something different. I want to propose a protection deal."

Sophie asked, "What do you mean by a protection deal, Mr. Lang? We've got ourselves some fine men to take care of that for us. Todd Raine down there is one of the finest fighters I've seen. He can handle anyone should anyone attack us."

Ray replied, "Maybe that's true, Miss. Doyle, but even he can't be here twenty- four seven. What happens when this place is closed in the early morning and during the day when no one is here? For a price, we can offer our protection services to you. We can make sure nothing happens."

"No thank you, Mr. Lang," Nate answered. "We have plenty of security and I will say this once more. This club is not for sale, nor will it ever be. Feel free to stay for as long as you wish tonight, but I do not want to see you again. Do I make myself clear?"

"You do not seem to understand me," Ray said in anger. "We are not giving you a choice of our business. Either you let us protect you for our price, or we will make sure that your place does not survive if you refuse. Perhaps, a demonstration is needed to show you we mean business."

Just as Parker came over to the table carrying a tray full of the wings they had order, each of them stood as Ray continued, "We'll be in touch, Mr. Cooper. Miss. Doyle, it's been a pleasure."

As they left, Parker said, "Well, that's just rude. After all the work I went through to make sure that these wings were made perfectly, they just leave and without leaving me so much as a tip. One of his pals tried to feel me up. They're creepy pigs."

"One of them tried to lay his hands on you?" Hardison asked as he walked over to join Parker, Nate, and Sophie at the table. "I can't wait for this case to be over and done with. I mean, I can finally be free to get to know Dan again."

As they continued speaking, Eliot observed Dan, Ray, and his friends as they walked down the stairs from the second level of the club and left. As they walked past him, Dan looked over at him with a hint of a smirk on his face that most people wouldn't have seen, or if they had, would have shrugged off. It gave Eliot a bad feeling about their latest con, but mostly about their newest client. He wasn't willing to allow his friend get hurt if Dan wasn't on the level.


	4. Chapter 4

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Four

Two nights had gone by and so far, Ray and his friends had yet to show that their threat was real. Nate asked Hardison to make contact with Dan to find out if Lang had taken the bait, but was unfortunately unable to get a hold of him. Hardison assured his teammates that Dan would be in touch with him soon.

About quarter to four o'clock that morning, just before their club was about to be closed for the night, Dan finally gave Hardison a call in order to warn him that Ray and the others were going to be breaking into the club around four thirty to make good on their threat.

"I told you he'd call," Hardison said to Nate and Sophie, who were in the wine cellar taste testing their newest wine supply. "And you doubted me. I'm hurt."

"It isn't that we doubted you, Hardison," Sophie responded. "It's just that we didn't think we did a convincing enough job ourselves. You are doing fabulously!"

Hardison smiled and replied, "I know I am, thank you very much."

Nate gave Hardison an odd look and then placed his hand to his ear and called out on his com saying, "Eliot, Parker, we're going to be having company around four thirty. I need you both to make sure everyone, including other employees, are gone before they get here."

"You got it, Nate," Eliot answered over his own com.

"Do we get to kick their butts, or do we just hide while they trash the place?" Parker asked. "Cause I mean, we really worked hard to set it up. I'm not really looking forward to spending another day setting it up again."

Hardison responded, "We don't have a choice, Parker. We have to let them think that we are scared enough to agree to their terms in order to get enough on them to give to the police. We can't be there, but we can watch them from our home away from home."

Eliot replied, "You do realize that they will end up destroying all your décor and great sound system, don't you, Hardison?"

"Yeah, but I've got a better system to replace it with," Hardison answered.

"Do you ever run out of things to build or whatever it is that you do?" Eliot asked.

Hardison laughed as he responded, "Age of the geek, Baby! Age of the geek!"

It was about four forty-five when Ray and his friends showed up at the club. Hardison, Nate, Sophie, Parker, and Eliot observed their break-in from a building under construction that was just down the street. They saw that Dan was not with them, as he had told Nate the day they had first met their client.

Hardison grabbed one of his orange sodas that he drinks so much of from the table beside him and pulls out his cell phone to dial Dan to find out what he's doing. Parker remained seated in the chair beside him and watches Lang and his thugs start to pull apart their club. Eliot pulled both Nate and Sophie aside in order to talk to them in private, out of Hardison's earshot.

Sophie could sense that something was bothering Eliot and so she spoke up first as she asked, "What's bothering you, Eliot? Everything seems to be going just fine so far."

Eliot answered, "Do either of you sense something's off with Dan?"

"Off how exactly?" Nate asked as he looked at Eliot.

"I'm not really sure," he responded. "I mean, he looked genuinely surprised to see Hardison the day we met him, but I think that he is playing us somehow. I am just not sure why he's going through with this double cross. Maybe they stole something from someone and he wants whatever it is for himself."

Sophie laughed and replied, "Eliot, I think you are just being paranoid. Dan seems to be on the level. I think you are just worried that when we are finished, Hardison is going to leave our team in order to go off with Dan."

Nate added, "Hardison hasn't seen his brother for years. Of course he's going to want to want to take some time to get to know him again, but I'm sure that in time, he'll be back. However, if your feelings are that bad, keep your eye on him. I don't want to take any chances."

"Nate, do you honestly believe Eliot's concern too?" Sophie asked.

"What concern?" Parker asked as she walked over to them. "Is something wrong?"

Nate answered, "Nothing. We're just hoping that Hardison's right about him being able to repair the club better than what it was before. We need Lang and his pals to come back again in order for our plan to work properly."

Sophie replied, "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Right now, Dan is waiting at their hideout," Parker said. "Shall I go take a look at their heavily protected loot now?"

"Go ahead," Nate responded. "But Parker, don't steal anything right now. There will be time for that later. They can't know we're setting them up yet. Do I make myself clear?"

Parker mumbled, "Fine."

After she walked out of the room, Eliot walked up behind Hardison and asked, "How are they doing?"

"They're doing a pretty good number on the place," Hardison answered. "But believe me, it's nothing I can't fix. Everything's going according to plan. Whooo!"

Meanwhile…

Dan stayed behind as his friends raided the club that his brother and his teammates set up to get them arrested. After they left, he finished eating the Chinese takeout he had ordered and took the call from Hardison when he rang. As he got off the phone, Dan stood up and walked over to the safe where Ray kept everything they had stolen over the last year and started messing with the buttons that opened the safe. He knew it was a long shot to get the right combination, but he tried nonetheless.

After a few tries, he suddenly heard someone walk up behind him and swung around in fear, thinking it was Ray or one of his other friends, back early from the break-in. However, he saw that it was only Parker standing there with a skeptic look on her face.

"What ya doin'?" Parker asked.

"Nothing," Dan replied. "I mean, I was just trying to save you some time. I am not sure how long they're going to be. Hardison told me you were on your way."

"Uh huh," Parker responded as if she wasn't sure she believed him. "Just stand back and let me know if they get back sooner than we expect them to. I don't need any help to open this baby. It's what I do!"

Parker pulled out the device that Hardison had made to decode the numbers needed to open any computerized safe from her bag she had carried with her and within five minutes, had the safe open. She just smiled as Dan told her that he was shocked that she could get it open and as quickly as she did.

She looked through the safe's contents and found well over five hundred grand as well as several of deeds to other clubs they had stolen from other club owners. After a few minutes of going through everything, she found something that she didn't expect to find that would make this job more complicated; evidence that Ray Lang and his team, possibly even Dan, had murdered two club owners.


	5. Chapter 5

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Five

As soon as Parker found the evidence of the murders, she suddenly stopped going through the money and papers, turned to Dan, who was leaning over her shoulder trying to see into the safe, and said, "Do you mind not crowding me, Dan? I don't like it when people get too close to me. As a matter of fact, would you mind going to get me some water? I had to crawl through the air ducts in order to get in here without being seen by the security cameras your pals put in place. I'm a bit thirsty."

Dan replied, "Uh, yeah, sure thing. Let me know what you find."

Parker began taking pictures of the evidence of the murders that she had found, but on a small camera that she carried around with her so that they wouldn't be included in the pictures she was going to be taking of everything else that was in the safe. She quickly hid the camera and began to take the other pictures with the phone Hardison had given her as Dan walked back in.

"Did you find anything interesting?" Dan asked.

"Nope, only what I expected to find," she responded. "Just a lot of money, the ownership papers of a number of clubs around the city and other cities as well, and some kind of ugly statue. Don't know why it's in here, unless your friends just dumped everything from the other club owner's safes into one bag and never chucked it. Or it could be valuable. Maybe Hardison can figure it out."

Dan looked at Parker after she relocked the safe and stood up and he said, "I kind of get the sense that you and Alec have a thing for each other. Is it true?"

Parker glared at him and answered, "I don't know what you're talking about. Even if there was something between us, which there isn't, it wouldn't be any of your business. We're just friends. What happened to the people who adopted you years ago? Hardison said that you were adopted, which is why you lost contact with each other."

"My adoptive parents were killed a few years later in a car accident," Dan replied. "Instead of going back to being stuck in foster care, I ran away and that is when I joined a gang. I wish that I tried to find Alec and who he called Nana. She really was a great woman. My life would have been different if I had. I would have a brother."

"He still thinks of you as one," she responded. "Are you going to ask him to go away with you when we're done putting your friends in prison?"

Dan answered, "I was thinking about it, but I am not sure he'll want to come. He seems to have a place to call home with you guys. I'd hate to ruin that for him. He doesn't deserve to have his life turned upside down by me. You'd better get out of here before they get back. It could be at any time."

Parker nodded as she quickly lay out on her stomach and then exit through the vents that led to the outside. Dan sighed as he watched her disappear and then walked out of the room to wait for his friends to return.

Meanwhile…

Hardison remained seated at his computer watching the thugs tear apart the club he worked so hard to put together, while he ate Chinese food. At first, it didn't bother him that Nate came up with a plan that would end with his hard work destroyed, but the longer he watched them do it, the angrier he felt that he had to rebuild the place and in a much shorter time than before.

Eliot came up behind Hardison and put a hand on his shoulder, causing Hardison to jump as he said, "Man, don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Eliot laughed as he took a seat next to him and replied, "Actually, it's all that soda and greasy food that's going to give you a heart attack. I didn't mean to scare you, Man. I'm sorry."

"Do you want something?" Hardison asked as he turned to look at the hitter.

"No, what makes you ask that?" he asked Hardison in return.

Hardison responded, "Because you're being nice to me. You're never nice to me unless you want something."

Eliot scoffed and answered, "Man, that is so not true. I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Sorry," Hardison replied. "I am just getting frustrated the longer I watch these guys tear apart my club. What do you want to know?"

"I just want to know if you are going to stay with us when this job is done, or if you're going to leave with Dan?" Eliot asked.

Hardison turned back to the computer screen as he responded, "I don't know. I never thought I'd see him again, but now that he's here, I'd like to get to know him again. I just ain't sure that I'm ready to leave the team and I know that Nate wouldn't go for a new team member. Besides, he don't got no skills like us. I'm thinking about it, Man."

Eliot was about to say something, until Parker walked in and came over to them as she asked, "Did the thugs leave yet?"

"Yeah, it looks like they left a few minutes ago," Hardison answered. "They totally trashed my club. I don't know how Nate thinks I'm going to be able to get it put back together in a day."

"You'll come up with something," Nate said as he and Sophie walked into the room. "You always do."

Parker handed Hardison her phone and then pulled Eliot, Nate, and Sophie aside in order to talk to them out of Hardison's earshot, while he worked on downloading the pictures she had taken of the safe's contents onto his computer and go through what she had found.

"I need to talk to you guys without Hardison," Parker said. "I found something that isn't good and I am not sure if Dan is a part of it or not. Hardison will get upset if we accuse him of anything."

"Parker, what did you find?" Sophie asked.

"I found pictures of two dead men inside the safe," she replied as she pulled her own camera from her pocket. "If you remember, during Hardison's search into the previous owners of the clubs that Ray Lang and his friends now own, he found that two of them had disappeared. We assumed that they were dead, but these pictures prove that they killed them, probably used them as blackmail to scare other owners into turning the clubs over to them. Dan may not have been there when they killed them, but I would think he would know about it."

Sophie asked, "Why would he hide that from us if he did?

Eliot added, "If he does know, he deserves to be in prison just like the others for being an accessory to murder. I am telling you, Dan is bad news. I don't trust him."

"Do all of you feel the same way?" Hardison asked as he walked over to the group. "You do, don't you?"

"Hardison, it isn't that," Nate said. "Parker found…"

Hardison interrupted, "I don't care what she found. Dan is my brother and a good man, who came to us for help. Now I see the real reason why you came over to talk to me about whether or not I am planning on staying with you guys. I guess I just found my answer. When this job is done, I'm gone."

Eliot started to go after Hardison, until Sophie pulled him back and said, "He just needs some time to cool down. Only then will he be able to understand that we are only trying to do what is best for him."

"Sophie's right," Nate responded. "We need to do this job and we'll do everything we can to get to the bottom of this. If Dan is bad, we'll do what has to be done, despite how Hardison feels. Hopefully he'll come around to forgive us for talking bad about him, if he's not guilty. If he is, hopefully he'll learn to see things our way."


	6. Chapter 6

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Six

The next morning, Nate, Sophie, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison walked into their club like they normally would in case they were being watched on the outside by Lang and his friends. Once they were inside, they were able to talk freely and began to fix up the place, knowing it would be at least two days before they could reopen.

Nate and Sophie walked into the office to find that it had been just as trashed as the club itself, but as they expected, the safe was not broken into. Parker assured them that it was impregnable, except for those who were as good of thieves as they were. If the thugs tried to break into it, she was right. Together they began to pick up the office.

Eliot and Parker began to clean up the club's main room and the kitchen area. The tables had all been overturned, the décor throughout the room that Hardison bragged so much about making had been torn down, all the dishes had been smashed, the walls had been covered in graffiti, and there was toilet paper draped throughout the room. Truth was, it looked like a group of immature teenagers had broken in and tore the club apart as a prank.

Eliot began to put the tables upright, tear down the toilet paper, and clean up the broken glass from the dishes, as well as sweep and mop up the floors. Parker grabbed the paint that they had hidden and began to paint over the graffiti on the walls.

Hardison walked over to the music station he had set up and cleaned up the broken technology. After that job was done, he would begin to set up his backup music players, then go to help the others with their jobs. So far, Hardison refused to speak with any of his teammates, except for anything that involved the job they were working on. He was still angry for the things he had overheard them say about Dan.

The team had a lot of work cut out for them. It was around one o'clock that afternoon when Ray, Dan, and the other thugs walked to the club and knocked on the door for someone to let them in. Eliot looked to Nate for the approval and when he nodded, Eliot walked over to the door to let them in.

Nate and Sophie walked over to them and said, "Gentlemen, we aren't going to be open until tomorrow night thanks to what looks like some gang bangers breaking in and trashing the place. Truthfully, it looks like a bad Halloween prank. I'm afraid we're a bit too busy to talk about a business deal that I already assured you isn't going to happen."

Ray chuckled as he replied, "I warned you that this would happen, Mr. Cooper. I also told you we could have prevented this. Are you really refusing to take us up on our offer after you've seen what can be done to you?"

"You will miss out on making money tonight," one of Ray's other friends added. "Imagine if something worse happened, such as a fire. Do you really want to risk that?"

"I am beginning to think that it was you guys who did this," Sophie responded. "Are we right to assume that you are threatening us?"

Eliot continued, "I've heard about thugs like you, Mr. Lang. You and your pals go around scaring other clubs and businesses into paying you from protection from thugs, like you, and when you see that the clubs and businesses are continuing to do well, you threaten them into handing over the ownership papers so that you will own them and have the money all for yourselves."

Ray chuckled again as he replied, "You are pretty smart, Mr. what was your name again?"

"Todd Raine," Eliot answered.

"We'll be back when you guys reopen tomorrow night," Ray said. "You should get back to work. I look forward to seeing your new renovations. Until then."

Nate responded, "Yes, until then, Mr. Lang."

As they left the club, Sophie spoke up saying, "Dan only stood there as Ray and who I assume is Ray's girlfriend spoke. Either Dan is really who he claims to be just as Hardison said he is, or he is a very good actor. He looked worried."

"That doesn't matter right now," Nate replied. "We need to focus on bringing Ray and his friends down. Let's get back to work. We still have a lot to do before tomorrow night."

Nate and Sophie walked off to do whatever they were working on, while Eliot walked over to the back of the room where Hardison was still struggling with setting up his sound system. Normally, the hacker had fun setting up a new project of his, but Eliot could see that he was clearly upset. He assumed it was because everyone was against him on their feelings about Dan.

"Hardison, listen I…" Eliot began.

"This system is taking a bit longer than I expected it to," Hardison interrupted. "I think I outdid myself this time, but don't worry. It will be ready in no time."

Eliot tried again saying, "I just wanted to apologize about last night. We didn't mean for you to find out that way about how we felt toward Dan. I know how much he means to you. I hope I am wrong about him and if I am, I'll let you gloat about it for a month. I won't even beat you unconscious in order to get you to shut up."

Hardison remained quiet for a minute until he finally replied without turning to face him, "In time I'll be able to forget about the things you guys said and maybe we'll be all right again, but I am still leaving when this is all done. I don't belong with you guys. I thought I did, but I was only fooling myself. Please just go away for now. Besides, there's a lot of work still to be done. When I'm done here, I'll help Parker finish painting the walls."

Eliot was about to say something until he saw that Hardison was no longer listening to him. So, he walked away to finish what he was doing before Ray and his friends arrived. The work continued and they all finished just in time for The Den of the Five Thieves to reopen the next night as planned.


	7. Chapter 7

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Seven

Meanwhile…

Ray and his friends arrived back at their hangout, at the Haddaway Roxbury. He, Dan, and the rest of the gang gathered in the office, since the staff of the club were busy getting ready for it to open in a few hours. Dan stepped away from them in order to ask the bartender for a round of drinks, to be brought to them once they were ready.

As Dan walked in the office behind the others, Ray spoke up saying, "You've been more quiet than usual the last few weeks, Dan. What's going on with you?"

Dan sat down and answered, "Nothing is going on. I just am tired of all this. These guys are pigheaded. What are you going to do if they still refuse to pay for our protection? Are you planning on killing Mr. Cooper or his business partner too? What about the other three? They all seem to be pretty tight. If you take out one, you're going to have to take out the others as well. We've gotten away with everything we've done so far, including killing two of the other club owners, but I think the police would notice five deaths, don't you?"

"I have to agree with Dan, Ray," Ray's girlfriend replied. "We should cut our losses and find a new city to start over. Let the Den of the Five Thieves be."

"I don't mean that we should leave, let's just give them time to resettle before we make another move," Dan responded. "Maybe then, the pictures of dead men will be enough to scaring these guys to giving us what we want."

One of the other friends agreed saying, "I think Dan may be right. Let's wait just a few days to…"

Ray interrupted, "We will not wait. We will be there tomorrow night when they open. If they refuse to listen to reason, then we will kill them. There are ways to kill five people, if need be, without the police suspecting us."

"We're with you, Ray," said his girlfriend and each of his other friends, except for Dan.

"What about you Danny Boy?" Ray asked.

"You know I'm with you too, Ray," Dan answered. "You and I have been through a lot together for a long time. Let's do this."

Dan's answer pleased Ray and the others. Little did they know that everything he had just said was a total lie and that within a few days, each of them would be in prison for the rest of their lives.

The next night at the Den of the Five Thieves…

The club was once again booming as it had before, if not even more so. The lights and the color on the walls were brighter, the sound system was larger and better than before, and those who had been before had come back with family and friends. Hardison worked to promote their club with advertisements on both television and the internet, as well as with flyers.

The members of the team were each where they needed to be. Eliot was roaming around the floor to make sure that the guests were behaving properly. Parker also roamed the floor, once again dressed as a waitress in order to deliver food and drinks. Nate and Sophie were sitting at a table in a conversation with a woman, who was there to evaluate the club. The critique going was well. And Hardison was acting as the club's DJ. If it weren't for the mixed feelings he felt about his brother and his friends, he'd be having the time of his life.

The club had been reopened for about seven hours and there had so far been no incidents. Ray and his crew had yet to show up. Around one- thirty in the morning, several of the guests got into a verbal fight, which Eliot then had to intervene as it grew into a brawl that was going to end up spinning out of control very quickly.

A woman, who came to the club with her husband, was cheating on him with at least three other men, each of whom showed up at the club as well. Apparently, she wasn't very careful about hiding her multiple affairs and when they found her out, they followed her here.

It was when one of the men attempted to smash a beer bottle over another's head that Eliot quickly pushed his way into the middle of the men as the rest began to throw punches and kick at one another. He managed to push them all apart, but they were not ready to back down just because one man stood between them. Little did they realize that Eliot was not an ordinary bouncer.

"I'm going to say this one time," Eliot began. "Each of you will back off and leave this club peacefully right now, or you'll wish that you had. Trust me, you do not want to go with open B."

"This isn't your fight, Pal," one of the guys replied. "These guys stole my woman."

The woman's husband responded, "She isn't your woman, Scumbag. She's my wife."

Another of the boyfriend's was about to speak up, when Eliot interrupted saying, "Don't even bother trying to say that she's yours pal. If you ask me, you're all pretty stupid to fight over a woman, who obviously doesn't deserve your loyalty. However, if you insist on fighting me, be my guest. Just don't say that I didn't warn you."

The husband charged Eliot, who was easily able to side step him and shove him into a table nearby. The other guys attacked Eliot as they tried to punch and kick him, with beer bottles, and even with a table as well, thinking that they could knock him out. Within five minutes, Eliot had each of them down on the ground, still conscious, but hurting badly enough to make them stay down. Nate had called the police to have them send a squad car to the club to escort them from the building.

As they were being cuffed, Parker came running over to Eliot and stomped her foot as she said, "Dang it! I missed the whole fight. I was hoping to get a little action tonight. Are these guys with Lang?"

Nate walked over to them, followed by Sophie and Hardison, and answered, "No. They're just a bunch of idiots fighting over a woman."

"Are you saying you wouldn't fight other men for my honor?" Sophie asked.

"I uh… Well…" Nate tried to reply, not picking up on her sarcasm. "Hardison, nice job on the sound system.

Hardison responded, "Thanks. I told you it'd be ready in time. I better get back. We've still got a job to do. This place needs to be hoppin' if we want to make it look luring for our pawns and king."

His friends watched Hardison as he walked away and Sophie spoke up saying, "He's really struggling, Nate. I have never seen him so upset. I'm very worried about him."

"We all are and we'll make it up to him when this job is done, but right now we need to worry about getting Ray Lang and his thugs in jail where they belong," Nate replied. "Let's get back to work."


	8. Chapter 8

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Eight

It was about four o'clock in the morning and Eliot, Parker, and Hardison were working on kicking out the stragglers, who remained inside the club come closing time. It was around then, that Ray Lang and his friends, including Dan, walked in, hoping to talk with Nate, or Cooper, as far as they knew.

At first, Eliot blocked them from walking in any further than the entrance of the club, but Nate and Sophie walked down from the office and Nate said, "Go ahead and let them in, Todd. If they want to talk, we'll talk."

Ray responded, "Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Shall we?"

Nate and Sophie led them back upstairs to the same table where they spoke once before and Parker once again took their drink orders. This time they didn't order food, in case their negotiations fell apart as they expected them to. Ray saw Brant Copper as a foolish man, unable to see the bigger picture should he refuse their offer.

"Your associates, Mr. Carson and Mr. Raine are free to join us if they wish," Ray spoke up saying. "What I am about to propose concerns them as well."

"Very well, I'll have them join us," Nate answered as he motioned for them to do so when he saw that they were within eyesight. "If your proposal has something to do with purchasing my club from me, you're wasting your time."

As Hardison and Eliot pulled up a seat next to Nate and Sophie, Ray responded, "I don't plan on purchasing this club from you anymore, Mr. Cooper. I plan on taking it from you. You and Miss. Doyle are going to sign this club over to me and then you'll leave town, along with Mr. Carson. Mr. Raine, I am willing to pay twice the amount you're currently being paid to stay on. One of my friends was in here earlier scouting out the place and saw how you handled yourself against those moronic boyfriends. You've got skill. We could use a guy like you."

Eliot smirked as he replied, "Sorry, but my place is beside Mr. Cooper. He and I go way back."

"What makes you think that I am just going to sign over my club to you and then leave town?" Nate asked.

"Because this is what happened to the last two club owners, who refused to sell me their places," Ray responded as his girlfriend pulled out some photos they had taken the nights that the men had been killed and threw them onto the table. "We can arrange this to happen to each of you if that is really what you want. Going to the police will not help you. You won't be able to pin anything on me."

Nate played dumb as he asked, "You guys killed these other men?"

One of Ray's friends answered, "Let's just say that negotiations with them didn't go so well. We hope things will go better for you guys."

Hardison kept his eyes trained on the pictures and then slowly looked over at Dan with hurt in his eyes. Dan looked back at him as if pleading for him to wait until he could explain. Ray and his other friends didn't pay any attention to them, but Eliot saw the exchange between them and looked down in anger. It was then that Hardison stood from his chair and slowly walked away.

"What's up with him?" Ray asked.

"I don't really know," Nate replied as he held in his anger toward both Ray and especially Dan. "Now, to answer to your original request, no. No, we will not sell this place to you. Now, leave my place right now!"

Ray and his friends smirked as Eliot stood with his arms crossed and Ray responded, "Fine, we're leaving. I'd be sure to watch your backs though. The Den of the Five Thieves will be ours."

Ray, Dan, and the others stood from the table and left, as Sophie turned to Nate and said, "They could have asked to speak with just the two of us since we are the ones who own the club. Why ask Eliot and Hardison to join us too?"

"Because they know that we were a pretty tight group," Nate answered. "They figure, if we end up dead, then Eliot and Hardison would go to the cops with a story about them being the ones who killed us and even if the cops weren't to believe them, Ray Lang and his crew would be suspects. They want them dead too. Why not threaten us all at the same time?"

"What about Dan?" Eliot asked. "It's obvious that he knew about the two dead guys. How could he not? He played us."

Sophie replied, "I saw his face. He may have known about the deaths, but his face looked genuinely sad. I think he is stuck with them with no way out, but death himself. He came to us for help to bring them down and to save his life."

Eliot scoffed as he responded, "Maybe, but he is using Hardison to do it. I don't trust him."

"I'll go have a talk with Hardison," Sophie replied. "The two of you get working on the final step of our plan. I can't wait for this job to finally be over."

"I'm with you on that one," Parker said as she joined them.

Nate asked her, "Did you do it?"

She smiled and answered, "How long have we been working together for now?"

"All right, point taken," Nate responded as he chuckled. "Let's get to work."

About forty minutes later, Dan walked up to Hardison's hotel room where he was staying to try to talk to him. He knocked on the door and with hesitation, Hardison finally opened the door to let him in.

Dan spoke up first saying, "Listen Alec, I know I have a lot to explain, but please just give me a chance."

Hardison asked sadly, "You knew about the club owners deaths, didn't you? And you didn't tell us, tell me?"

"Yes, I knew, but it isn't what you think," Dan replied. "I didn't say anything to you because I was afraid that you and your team would back out if you learned how dangerous my friends have become. I need to get away from them and that doesn't happen without ending up in a body bag. I don't want to die, but I also don't want them to die either. They belong in prison, just like I said. I am sorry that I didn't tell you, Man. I promise you, that I had nothing to do with their deaths. I swear it. I could never do that to anyone. You know me better than anyone, Brother."

"No more lies or deception," Hardison responded. "I need you to be honest with me. I'll convince the others to keep up with our plan."

"You don't have to convince us of anything," Sophie said as she walked into the room. "We're already going to finish the job. I had a feeling that that is the reason why you came to us in the first place. I am sorry to have eavesdropped, but I came up here to make sure that you were all right, Alec. Are you?"

Hardison turned to face her as he replied, "I will be when this case is over. I need some time alone if you two don't mind. I need to think about some things."

As he left the room, Sophie turned back to Dan and said, "Listen, if we learn that you are lying to us about anything and you end up hurting Alec anymore, Eliot will make you wish your friends killed you, I promise. They don't seem to always get along, but we are a family. Eliot sees Alec as a brother. Do you understand?"

Dan answered, "Yes, Ma'am, I do."


	9. Chapter 9

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Nine

Ray Lang and his friends returned to the Haddaway Roxbury shortly after they finished their meeting with Brant Cooper down at The Den of the Five Thieves. As they left the club, Dan told Ray that he had a few errands to run. Little did they know he had actually gone to talk with Hardison instead.

As they settled in, Ray spoke up saying, "Cooper and his friends are too cocky and sure of themselves. I want them to see their mistake of not doing business with me before they die."

One of Ray's friends asked, "Do you want us to kill all of them, or just Mr. Cooper?"

"Actually, we're going to kill Cooper's pretty business partner, Miss. Doyle, the club's manager, Carson, and the bouncer, Raine," he responded. "I want you each to keep an eye on one of them and when they are alone, kill them. Then, we'll show Cooper what we've done. Then, he'll sell us the club. If he doesn't, I'll kill him and we'll burn the club down."

"Why don't we just kill him too and take the club for ourselves?" asked Ray's girlfriend.

Ray answered, "Because we need the ownership papers signed over to me in order for us to run the business legally. We'd be caught if we tried to make a good profit without them. I want the others dead by the time Cooper's Club closes tomorrow morning. Do I make myself clear?"

The girl replied, "Crystal clear, Baby. I've got Peggy Doyle. I doubt like her prissy attitude."

Ray nodded and said, "That leaves Carson and Raine for you boys. Get it done."

"You've got it, Man!" the other two friends responded simultaneously.

The next day…

Sophie was eating lunch in a café, just down the street from the thieves' club. She sat alone, with the exception of three or four guys coming up and hitting on her. She acted as if she were flattered, just before she turned each of them away. Then, a waitress walked over to deliver her check as well as a refill on her coffee. Just after Sophie took a few sips, she suddenly collapsed to the floor choking and struggling to breathe.

No one paid any attention to the waitress as she slipped out the door, while the other patrons just stared or concentrated on helping the beautiful woman as she collapsed. The cashier behind the counter quickly dialed 911, but as the paramedics arrived a few minutes later, she was dead.

Two and a half hours later…

Eliot was working out in one of the many gyms in downtown Chicago. For about two hours, he did every possible work out available to him. Finally, he walked into the showers and about ten minutes later, he walked out refreshed and fully dressed. He made no notice to the man following him as they walked out.

After stepping outside and walking a few feet, the sound of several bullets firing rang out and several onlookers watched as Eliot jerked to the bullets hitting his body and then fall to the ground dead. Blood seeped out from the wounds and leaked out around his body, onto the sidewalk.

The man following Eliot out of the gym took off running as two police officers showed up within a minute of the shooting. A coroner's van showed up about twenty minutes later, while the witnesses looked on out of morbid curiosity.

Just before the Den of the Five Thieves opened around 400 in the evening…

Hardison and Parker walked out of a restaurant where they had gone to dinner before work. One of Lang's friends, who was in charge of keeping an eye on Hardison, watched them exit the restaurant, walking hand in hand.

The thug picked up his cell phone, dialed a number, and said, "Ray, I've been watching Carson all day long and the guy has been constantly with that cute little waitress from their club. You know, the one that turned me down the night we first went there? I can't get a clear shot at him, without taking care of her too. What do you want me to do?"

"_Kill her too,_" Ray answered. "_Another reason to get Cooper to think twice about refusing me again._"

"You've got it," his friend replied.

Just as Hardison and Parker walked around the corner that led to the side entrance of the club, Ray's friend pulled out a gun and fired three shots, one of them hitting Parker square in the chest, the other two hitting Hardison in the back as he dove over Parker trying to save her. He could see that they were both dead, as neither of them moved afterward and he could see the blood smeared on the wall of the building nearby. The thug quickly drove off before any cops could arrive.

Once his last friend showed back up at the Haddaway Roxbury with the news that his jobs was finished, Ray Lang chuckled and said, "Congratulations, everyone! We're about to get ourselves a new club to add to our collection. Tomorrow, when he realizes that he will not be opening again, we'll go give the news to Brant Cooper and warn him that he will die just like his friends if he refuses to sign it over to us one more time. Even he isn't that foolish to decline my offer."

Ray girlfriend spoke up saying, "It's a bit ironic that our latest place is named the Den of the Five Thieves. I like it, but I think we should probably change its name. Don't you think it's a little conspicuous?"

"I like it just as it is," Ray answered. "It suits us."

"I think Ray's right," Dan finally spoke up. "It's a great name. There are five of us after all."

About five- thirty in the afternoon the next day…

Ray, Dan, and their friends walked inside the club to find Nate sitting down at a table in the middle of the club's main room, with a glass of scotch in his hand. Each of them expected to see him look devastated. However, as they walked up to him, Nate looked up at them and smiled.

He spoke up saying, "Gentlemen, it is good to see you again and just around the time I expected. Hardison and I had a bet to see when you guys would be coming to bring me the bad news. It looks like I won!"

Ray looked at the man in front of him blankly and asked, "Why do you seem to be so happy? All your friends are dead and we killed them."

"Actually, you didn't," Nate replied as Sophie, Eliot, Parker, and Hardison all walked into the room with grins on their faces. "Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet the five thieves, who own this pretty great club."

"I told you you'd find out who the five thieves were soon enough," Hardison added as he and the others snickered.


	10. Chapter 10

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Ten

Ray and his friends, except for Dan, all looked as if they had seen a ghost, or four, and Ray spoke up asking, "What is this? What's going on?"

Nate answered, "My friends and I are con artists and thieves and you fellas, are our marks. You were spying on us, we were spying on you. My name's Nate Ford, the mastermind. Miss Peggy Doyle here is actually Sophie Devereaux, our grifter. She and I are the faces of a con we like to call the double cross job.

First flashback…

"_They plan on spying on us to kill us when each of us are alone,"_ _Nate said yesterday morning as Ray spoke with his team inside the Haddaway Roxbury. "I suggest we give them exactly what they want._"

Second flashback…

_Sophie sat in the café and had just asked for her check. Dressed as a waitress, Ray's girlfriend dropped her check on the table and refilled Sophie's coffee cup. She watched as Sophie went to take a sip and left. However, Sophie never touched a drop of the poisoned coffee. She knew the waitress was Ray's girlfriend and only pretended to drink and then choke to death. The paramedics that arrived were Hardison and Nate. Hardison had intercepted the 911 call that went out._

Nate continued, "Eliot is our hitter and believe me when I say it, you don't want to test him," Nate continued. "He can kill you without breaking a sweat. Your boy didn't get the chance to kill him."

Third flashback…

_Eliot walked into the gym's dressing room, changed quickly, and walked back out. He noticed Lang's thug following him as he left the gym and after walking a few feet away, the sound of gunshots suddenly sounded. Hardison and Parker sat in a car across the street as he set of the electronic blanks he had used once before to fool another mark of theirs. Eliot pretended to be shot several times as he finally collapsed to the ground. The blood on the ground was just another prop. The officers and the coroner were Sophie, Parker, and Nate._

"Parker here is our thief," Sophie said as she finished their story. "Thanks to her, we have cleaned out everything from your safe; all the money and the ownership papers to the clubs and businesses you have stolen from all the others, as well as the photos of the men you killed. And finally, this is Hardison, our hacker and resident geek, as he loves to prove to us time and time again. Thanks to him, we have your confession to four attempted murders, and the proof from your own mouths that you killed the club owners. There are video cameras and bugs all over this place."

Fourth flashback…

_Hardison and Parker kept together all day long as they were being watched by Ray's other friend, except for when she snuck off from their dinner to go rob their safe inside the Haddaway Roxbury. She had gone through the restaurant's back door and once again through the vents inside the club. Just like before, she broke into the safe, only this time she took everything._

_ As soon as she made it back to the restaurant, she and Hardison left together and after walking hand in hand back to the Den of the Five Thieves, they were suddenly hit, Parker once in the chest and Hardison twice in the back as he dove over on top of Parker. As the thug drove off after firing the shots and seeing their blood splatter on the wall, Hardison and Parker sat up and opened up their shirts to reveal bulletproof vests. The blood was once again just Hardison's creation._"

"This is impossible!" Ray responded angrily.

"Actually, it's not," another man replied as he walked into the room followed by several officers with their guns raised and aimed directly at Ray and his friends.

Eliot spoke up saying, "Meet Lieutenant Bonanno with the local police. He's a friend of ours."

Bonanno responded, "Gentlemen, and lady, the four of you are under arrest."

Ray's girlfriend suddenly asked, "Wait, what do you mean the four of us? There are five."

"Sorry Ray; guys," Dan replied as he stepped forward and moved to stand next to Hardison. "You're my friends, but you guys changed a long time ago and I couldn't do this anymore. I had to do something to stop you. The deaths were too much. I didn't want you to end up dead either. This way, we all live."

"How dare you turn on me!" Ray said angrily as the cops began to lead them out of the club. "We trusted you! We were friends long before we began all this. We started this together; all of it. I thought we were brothers!"

Dan turned his head to look at Hardison and then answered, "No, Hardison here is my brother."

Ray and the rest of the thugs struggled as they were handcuffed and shoved into the police cars that were now parked outside. Hardison gave a small smile when Dan mentioned that he was his brother, but the smile quickly disappeared as he slowly walked away from him and his friends.

"What's wrong with him?" Dan asked. "We did it! We're done."

"It's up to him to tell you if he wants to," Eliot answered. "I am only going to say this once. If you hurt him after the two of you leave here, I will hunt you down and make you pay. I promise."

Dan looked at him and the others as he asked, "Did he say that he was going to come with me instead of going back to Boston with you guys?"

Sophie responded, "Just take good care of him if the two of you choose to stay together and get to know each other again."

"Thanks again for coming to us with these thugs, Nate," Bonanno said as he walked back inside the club once the other cops left with Ray and his friends and Dan turned and left the club himself. "We never would have known about Ray Lang's little business without you. The families of their victims never would have had justice. Now they will and the clubs and money will be returned to where they belong. Great work!"

"It's our pleasure," Nate replied. "It's good to see you again. Take care of yourself, huh?"

"You've got it!" he answered.

Parker turned to Nate and asked, "Now what? Are we really just going to let Hardison leave? Without him, we're not a team anymore."

Sophie responded, "We have to respect his wishes, Parker. We all knew that we wouldn't be together forever. Just because we're not a team any longer, doesn't mean this is goodbye. We'll see each other again. Fate is funny that way."

Nate agreed, "Sophie's right. Let's get working on finding the rightful owners to these clubs and give them back what belongs to them. But first, let's have a little celebration dinner on a job well done."

However, neither of them felt much like celebrating, knowing that Hardison wasn't there with them and that this was probably their last job they were going to pull together. They worried about their friend after seeing how hurt he looked as he walked out on them right after Ray Lang and his team's arrests.


	11. Chapter 11

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Eleven

Later that evening while Nate, Sophie, and Parker sat inside their club together for one last night before it was given away to one of Lang's earlier victims, Dan walked into the hideout where the team sat and watched as Ray and the rest of his friends were trashing the Den of the Five Thieves. He learned that this was the place where the team he had hired had taken everything they had stolen back from the thugs.

Dan walked over to the large safe and oddly found that it was slightly open. He bent down in front of it to open it all the way and began to search through the items, looking for something in particular.

Suddenly a familiar voice spoke up from behind him saying, "Are you looking for this?"

Dan quickly spun around and saw that Hardison was standing there with the odd looking statue in his hands. He could see that Alec knew the truth from the disappointment he wore on his face and that lying to him was pointless. Dan realized then how this confrontation was going to end. Despite the fact that Alec was a thief, he was also a good man. It wasn't going to end well.

Dan sheepishly responded, "Alec, please listen. I can explain. Wait, do you have a com in your ear?"

"I don't think that you really have to explain," Hardison replied as he slowly pulled out the tiny ear piece from his ear and crushed it under his foot. "I have a pretty good idea what's going on. It was my job to search for the people whom Ray and your pals stole from and make sure that the right paperwork and money got back to them. Thanks to the books you kept that accounted for everything that was stolen, we know exactly what goes where; everything except for this ugly statue. Now, I thought to myself, why wouldn't he have kept an account of where it was stolen from, unless he planned on keeping it? What could this thing possibly worth?"

"It isn't worth anything," Dan cut in. "That's why I didn't mark it down. I don't even know why Ray or the others didn't toss it in the first place."

Hardison answered, "After doing the research and finding nothing on it, I was about to give up until I accidentally managed to pick up an electronic signal on one of my gadgets that is coming from inside the statue. The statue itself isn't valuable at all. It's whatever information is on the computer chip inside. There's no way to decode the information without breaking the statue. You have no computer skills. How did you know about it and why do you want it so bad?"

Dan shrugged and responded, "Not too long ago, I was hired by a wealthy benefactor to find and steal this statue for him. I had no idea why he wanted it. He offered to pay me a lot. I couldn't pass it up. I…"

"It was your idea to rob from the clubs and other businesses, not Ray's," Hardison interrupted. "Ray may have taken it farther when he came up with the scheme to force the owners to pay for your protection services and then steal them out from under them once you see they will treat you well, but you started it all. Why?"

"I lived in gangs and on the streets for years, until I met Ray," Dan began to get angry as he defended himself. "He took me in and taught me that we needed to do whatever it takes to survive. Stealing is the way to do that. You should know that better than anyone."

Hardison replied, "What you've done is wrong. You know…"

Dan shouted, "What right do you have to lecture me on what's right and what's wrong? You're a thief, Alec."

"You're right," he responded. "But I've never hurt anyone. You killed two people and threatened everyone else. I work with those who fight for those who have been wronged by thugs like Ray and you. We steal from those who have stolen from others to get where they've gotten."

"Just like Robin Hood," Dan scoffed. "Ray was the one who killed the owners, not me. Listen, Alec. I am begging you to give that statue to me right now and let me go. In fact, come with me. We can work together and sell that chip to the highest bidder. We can be rich."

"Until you betray me just like you did Ray and the others," Hardison said. "My friends warned me that you were up to something. I didn't want to see it. I defended you and I was wrong."

It was then that Dan finally pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at Hardison as he replied, "Then, you leave me with no choice. Either give me the statue, or I will pull this trigger. Just because you're like a brother to me, doesn't mean that I won't shoot you."

Hardison tossed the statue over to Dan and answered, "We will find you and make you pay for the role you played in your schemes. The fact that I care for you will not change that. We're the best at what we do."

Dan caught the statue, clicked the glock of the gun, and responded, "I think the rest of your team will be too buy taking care of you to come after me any time soon. By then, I'll be long gone. I'm sorry, Alec."

BANG!

Meanwhile…

Nate, Sophie, Parker, and Eliot continued to sit at the table inside the club. Nate just drank the beer that was placed in front of him as he and Sophie discussed how they were going to redistribute the money and owner's papers back. Parker was listening, but she seemed to be concentrating more on picking at the food on her plate. Eliot was staring off at nothing as he focused more on the conversation he had with Hardison.

After a few minutes, the hitter slammed his fist on the table and left the room, while Nate, Sophie, and Parker stared at him as he left as Parker asked, "How did this job go so wrong? We should be celebrating because we won. Instead, we're breaking up and leaving things unsaid."

Sophie nodded sadly as she answered, "I'm not sure, Parker. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"We'll fix the air between us," Nate responded. "The five of us do good work together. Apart, we're just plain thieves who are lost."

"I hope you're right," Parker replied.

After Eliot left the club, he slowly began to walk toward the hotel where they were staying. Just as he was about to enter the building, his cell phone suddenly began to ring. He wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, but when he saw that the caller id said Hardison, he put the phone to his ear and answered.

However, as he did so, he didn't hear his friend talking to him, but to Dan instead as he heard Hardison say, "_I don't think that you really have to explain. I have a pretty good idea what's going on. It was my job to search for the people whom Ray and your pals stole from and make sure that the right paperwork and money got back to them._"

Eliot put his phone on speaker as he quickly texted an urgent message to Nate and the others, telling them to get to the construction site where they had stashed everything from their job right away. He knew that Hardison must have dialed his number without Dan knowing that he had.

He then ran there himself as fast as he could. He didn't like where the conversation between Hardison and Dan was going, especially when he heard the hurt in his friend's voice because of his brother's betrayal. Things got worse as he heard that Dan had pulled a gun on Hardison.

The conversation continued with Dan as he said, "_Then, you leave me with no choice. Either give me the statue, or I will pull this trigger. Just because you're like a brother to me, doesn't mean that I won't shoot you._"

Eliot heard Hardison answer back, "_We will find you and make you pay for the role you played in your schemes. The fact that I care for you will not change that. We're the best at what we do._"

It was then that he heard Dan reply, "_I think the rest of your team will be too buy taking care of you to come after me any time soon. By then, I'll be long gone. I'm sorry, Alec._"

Eliot stopped dead in his tracks as he suddenly heard the gunshot. However, he snapped out of his shock and took off running even faster than he was before. Eliot always feared deep down that one day their luck would run out, but he always expected it to be either him or Nate, not Hardison. He was after all the computer geek.


	12. Chapter 12

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Twelve

As Eliot ran into the room where he knew Hardison and Dan were arguing, the first thing he saw was Dan as he ran out of the room through an exit in the opposite direction. He started after him until he found Hardison lying unconscious on the floor, bleeding out from a bullet wound in the upper right side of his chest.

Eliot ran over and knelt down beside his friend as he quickly placed his right hand over the wound and lifted his free hand to his neck to feel for a pulse. It was real weak. He placed his other hand on top of his other one in order to strengthen the pressure over the wound. It was then that Nate, Sophie, and Parker ran into the room.

Sophie and Nate stopped dead and stared, while Parker ran right over to Hardison with tears falling down her cheeks as she began to cry softly, not caring if the others saw her emotion that she rarely showed.

She cried out, "Hardison, no!"

Tears began to fall down Sophie's cheeks as well as she quietly replied, "Oh God!"

"We need to get him to the hospital right away," Nate said as he snapped out of his shock and walked over to help Eliot lift Hardison into his arms. "He'll be there faster if we take him, then if we wait for the paramedics to arrive. Let's move."

Once Eliot had his friend in a fireman's carry, each of them left as soon as possible and piled into the closest car to the building. Nate broke the driver's side window to let the others in and sped off to the hospital once they were in. Eliot laid Hardison across the back seat, while he and Parker climbed in afterward and knelt down over him to take care of him. Sophie sat in the passenger's side.

As they pulled up to the emergency room, Eliot once again pulled Hardison into a fireman's carry and brought him into the ER's entrance, where a doctor and at least three nurses rushed over and pulled Hardison from him to place him on a gurney. Then they rushed him through two doors, where his friends could not follow.

Eliot tried to go after them, but Nate and Sophie held him back. He stopped fighting them and suddenly punched a hole through the wall closest to him in anger. As he stroked his hand that was now throbbing, he looked down at his clothes to see that he was covered in blood; Hardison's blood. As he looked at his friends, he saw that they each had blood on their clothes as well.

Parker stood back against the wall as she continued to cry softly. Sophie walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. Parker was the last of the members of their team to allow anyone to give her a hug, unless of course it was a part of a con.

The team never saw her show any emotion, except for the time Sophie saw her show jealousy when she saw Hardison being friendly with one of their clients. Parker had broken the glass she was holding with her bare hand as she thought he liked the girl. Even though neither she nor Hardison would admit it, Sophie, Nate, and Eliot all knew that they both had a thing for each other.

As Sophie put a hand on her shoulder, Parker spoke up softly saying, "This job wasn't nearly as difficult as many of the other ones we've pulled off. None of us were ever supposed to get hurt. How did this happen and why did it have to be Alec?"

Sophie answered, "You're right. This never should have happened, but Alec is strong. He will pull through this."

"I'm going to tear Dan apart when we catch up to him," Eliot replied as he and Nate walked over to them. "Hardison trusted him because he saw him as a brother. Dan betrayed him and then shot him to save his skin. I should have been there."

"No one could have known this was going to happen," Sophie responded. "None of us expected Dan to go this far."

Nate finally spoke up saying, "As far as we know, Dan double crossed us in order to get a hold of that statue, for whatever reason. He robbed us of the money as well, most likely on impulse, and he shot Hardison in order to stop us from chasing after him. His greed overpowered his sense of loyalty and love for a brother. We're going to find him and make him pay. I promise each of you."

Two and a half weeks later inside a hotel room in Paris, France…

Dan stood behind three other men, one of whom was sitting at a computer, waiting for the results of their search. The two men standing along with Dan were body guards to the man at the computer. They were big guys and being in the same room with them was a little intimidating to Dan.

The man at the computer, James Stockwell, was the wealthy benefactor, who had hired Dan to find the statue with the computer chip inside. He was the founder of a large corporate. He had heard about the shady line of work Dan and his friends were in, thanks to several unlawful connections he had throughout the city of Chicago.

When he had brought the offer to Ray Lang and his friends, who at the time were just thugs on the street and known for several strings of theft, Ray had turned the man down. However, Dan had gone back to the man and took the job on his own because he wanted to get out from under Ray and the others.

The money they were making for a few years at that point was nothing compared to the money Stockwell had offered for one job and Dan was pretty smart when it came to coming up with a plan to get what he wanted. He was the one who had come up with the idea to rob the club owners in order to locate the statue after Stockwell had told him that he had learned it was sold to one of them. Lang came up with the protection scheme, which eventually developed into forcing the owners out of their businesses for good. It had taken a long time to track down the right club owner.

The computer finally beeped, knocking Dan from his thoughts, as it had finished the encryption that was placed over the data on the chip. Stockwell began to read the data, but after a few minutes, the man turned around and glared at Dan as he found that the information on the computer screen was not what he was expected to find.

"Do you think you can pull one over on me, Kid?" Stockwell asked angrily.

"No, of course not, Sir," Dan answered as he was surprised by the question. "I would never double cross you."

The man responded, "Do you mean like how you double crossed your friends and a man you considered to be your own brother?"

Dan replied, "I shot Alec because I believe in doing whatever it takes to get ahead. I wouldn't try to cheat you."

"Believe it or not, he's actually telling the truth, Mr. Stockwell," Nate said as he, Sophie, and Eliot suddenly walked into the room after Elliot had broken down the door. "It wasn't easy to track you down without our hacker, Dan, but we managed."


	13. Chapter 13

The Double, Double Cross Job

Chapter Thirteen

"What are you doing here?" Dan asked as he slowly backed up toward another door before one of Stockwell's guards grabbed onto him. "How did you…?"

Sophie spoke up as she asked, "You don't honestly think that we would let you get away with what you've done to our friend, do you? How dare you hurt him after everything he said and did to defend you to us! None of us trusted you, but we helped you because of him. And you shot him for money. You're lower than the worst of the criminals we've taken down."

Stockwell stood from the chair and asked the intruders, "Excuse me, what do you mean about this kid not double crossing me? How do you know?"

"Because we're the ones who did the double crossing," Nate answered. "Actually, his brother was the one who thought of everything. You see, it was his job to try to find all the clubs' owners and to find out exactly how much money was stolen from them. When he did the research on the statue Parker had found in the safe, he discovered that it was owned by the last club owner and that it was worthless, at least price wise, but that inside it was a computer chip with some kind of data that, in the right or wrong hands, was worth a lot."

"The club owner bought the statue in a pawn shop because of sentimental reasons, not knowing anything about the computer chip," Sophie continued. "When Hardison learned all this, he thought that Dan's team had done all they had done in order to find the statue, but they had the statue the whole time and never attempted to sell it. They only kept in in their safe because they just didn't think to toss it. They just wanted the money they had stolen. It was after constantly hearing about Dan's odd behavior and our suspicions of him that Hardison couldn't shake the bad feelings he had and finally did a background check on your errand boy. He discovered something about you, Dan."

Eliot spoke up saying, "Hardison downloaded the information on your phone onto his own and learned enough information about you to prove that what we suspected all along was right. He found messages to and from Mr. Stockwell and found out that you were being paid by him a rather large amount for the statue. So, he sculpted his own, along with a heavily encrypted computer chip that contains the recipe of his Nana's famous chili, and switched them on you when you went to get it the night you shot him."

Sophie added, "He's very creative you see. You should see some of the amazing gadgets and props he's made to help us do what we do."

"I can see from your muscle here, that you all want to make Dan pay for the trouble he's caused you," Stockwell said as the guard shoved Dan toward Eliot. "By all means, take him. My men and I are leaving."

"I don't think so," Eliot replied as he threw Dan down hard on the ground and then charged the bodyguards.

As Eliot was busy fighting them, Nate went after Stockwell as he tried to run, while Sophie pulled a gun out from her purse and kept it trained on Dan. She ordered him to take a zip tie she had also pulled from her purse and tie himself to the bed post. He did as he was told.

The bodyguards were both much bigger than Eliot, but he used his rage that he felt toward Dan and was able to knock them out within a few minutes. He pulled two zip ties from his jacket pocket and tied the men to another bedpost on the opposite side of the bed. Nate walked back into the room, dragging Stockwell along with him. His hands were zip tied behind his back. Nate pushed him into the chair he was sitting in earlier near the computer.

"You and your men are going to prison for sanctioning the crime that led Dan here to shoot our friend, Stockwell," Nate said. "And Dan, you will be going away for the rest of your life, we'll make sure of it. Just in case you care at all, Alec is alive. He's been in a coma since you shot him, but he's still alive. Eliot, go ahead."

"Go ahead with what?" Dan asked, suddenly scared as he watched Eliot walking over to him.

Instead of getting a response, Eliot quickly cut the zip tie and suddenly punched Dan hard in the face, causing him to topple over and fall down to the floor. As he glared up at the man above him the teammates could see that his nose was bleeding heavily. Eliot reached down and pulled him back up as he stood behind him and wrapped his arms around him, strengthening his grip around his throat as if he were trying to strangle him. Dan struggled to get out of his grip, but grew weaker as he was slowly losing the ability to breathe.

Eliot shouted into Dan's ear, "This is something like what Hardison felt after you shot him in the chest, you son of a…! The bullet hit the upper part of his right lung. We were lucky that we got to him right away. He struggled to breathe and lost a heck of a lot of blood. I can imagine, as you can now that you know what dying feels like, that he was terrified. Believe me, if he doesn't pull through, I will finish this. I don't care if I end up in a prison cell beside you."

Eliot loosened his grip and threw Dan once again down to the ground. He breathed hard again as he put his own hands to his throat and rubbed it. Eliot, Nate, and Sophie just glared at the man, while Stockwell and his men looked on out of curiosity, wondering if they were going to attack them as well.

Once Dan finally was able to speak again, he shouted, "You could have killed me!"

Sophie nodded and replied, "Yes, he could have and believe me, he would like nothing more. We all do. However, Alec needs us to be there for him. We can't do that if we're behind bars. However, you will probably suffer enough when you are in prison. There are lots of monsters inside there, just like you."

"Lieutenant Bonanno of the police department in Boston will have each of you extradited from here, back to the states," Nate said. "That way, each of you will be close so that we can keep an eye on you quite easily. The French police will be here soon to escort you to their prison until ours can arrive. Goodbye, gentlemen."

Seven weeks later…

Hardison was resting comfortably in his own bed back in Boston. He had woken up from the coma five and a half weeks after the night he was shot. Tonight was the first night out of the hospital and he could still hardly move. Parker, Sophie, Nate, and even Eliot were there to help him no matter what he needed.

Hardison was grateful and when they were around he tried hard to act like himself, but they could see that he was struggling to deal with everything that had happened between him and the man he thought of a brother. He refused to speak to them about what happened and when he thought he was alone, they saw that he would do a lot of staring at nothing, as he was deep in thought.

"When will he go back to being the Hardison we know him as?" Parker asked no one in particular as the rest of the team sat at the bar below their apartments. "I mean, I get it, but I miss him."

"He needs time to work through everything, Parker," Sophie answered. "He will be all right in no time. Don't worry."

Eliot stood as the bartender walked over to them and handed him a small package and after he thanked the guy he said, "I'm going to go talk with him. See you guys later."

As he began to climb the stairs, Nate shouted, "Wait! What's in the package?"

"It's just a little something to cheer him up," Eliot responded.

Eliot knocked on the door to Hardison's apartment before he entered and as he did, he found Hardison was out of bed and going through several files on his computer. Eliot walked over to him and saw that he was searching the work he had created in order to track down each of the previous club owners.

When Eliot saw how much pain he felt as he sat up in the chair, he spoke up saying, "You don't have to worry about any of that, Man. We took care of everything while you were in the hospital. The right owners got their clubs back, as well as all of the money that was taken from them. The victims and their families are at peace now thanks to all this. You did a good job."

Hardison looked over at Eliot and replied, "Thanks. And thank you for bringing down Dan without killing him. I know he deserved it, but…"

"He was your brother," Eliot finished for him. "I get it, believe me."

"I can't believe that after everything we went through together, he still shot me," Hardison continued. "If only he stayed with me and Nana a little longer. Maybe then he would have been different. I may have grown to be a thief, but it was thanks to her that I care about the right things."

Eliot responded, "Things will get easier over time. You've got us to help you get through this. In the meantime, you've also got this. I had our bartender pick it up for me because he knew where to find it."

As Hardison opened the package, he found the gift was a first edition of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Hardison nodded in a silent thank you and smiled, when he suddenly began to laugh. Eliot began to laugh as well once he realized what had set him off.

"If you tell anyone about this little brotherly moment we just had, I will kill you," Eliot said jokingly.

"It's too late," Parker replied as she burst into the room and wrapped her arms around Hardison before helping in back over to the bed. "I was eavesdropping. I overheard everything."

Eliot scoffed as he responded, "That doesn't mean I can't kill you too."

Parker just ignored him and gently kissed Hardison on his cheek as she said, "I am glad your back, Alec. I missed you."

As Eliot saw Hardison and Parker looking at each other, he slowly back away toward the door and ran into both Nate and Sophie. Parker leaned in and began to kiss Hardison as Nate and Eliot walked out of the room. They continued to kiss for several minutes, as if they were the only ones in the room.

Sophie smiled as she softly said to herself, "It's about time! Things are finally as they should be."

The End


	14. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have read and have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I'm honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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